Book recs
Caveat: before reading any books I recommend, please research and determine if they would be a fit for you—my tastes run darker, and many of these books have content warnings (yes, even the YA books)! 🖤
If You’re New To…
Fiction in general:
Gallant by V.E. Schwab; Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson; The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman; Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton; Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo; Fireborne by Rosaria Munda; An Ember in the Ashes by Sabaa Tahir
Fantasy:
Emily Wilde’s Encyclopaedia of Faerie by Heather Fawcett; Warbreaker by Brandon Sanderson; The Mistborn Trilogy by Brandon Sanderson
Sci-fi:
Red Rising by Pierce Brown; The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness; Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card
Thrillers:
Home Before Dark by Riley Sager; The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton; Rock, Paper, Scissors by Alice Feeney
YA:
A Door in the Dark by Scott Reintgen; The Luminaries by Susan Dennard; Heiress Takes All by Emily Wibberly and Austin Siegemund-Broka, Letters to the Lost by Brigid Kemmerer; The Prison Healer by Lynette Noni
Stephen King*:
11/22/63 (time travel + historical fiction); Under the Dome (speculative fiction + battle of wits); The Institute (speculative fiction); Billy Summers (thriller); Misery (thriller/horror)
*yes he gets a category to himself
By Genre
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The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides
Rock, Paper, Scissors by Alice Feeney
The Likeness by Tana French
Make Me Disappear by Jessica Payne
Listen for the Lie by Amy Tintera
The Chalet by Catherine Cooper
The Institute, 11/22/63, and Under the Dome by Stephen King
The Guest List by Lucy Foley
Night Film by Marisha Pessl
Midnight is the Darkest Hour by Ashley Winstead
In My Dreams I Hold a Knife by Ashley Winstead
Small Secrets by Lucy Goacher
Home is Where the Bodies are by Jeneva Rose
Such a Quiet Place by Megan Miranda
One by One by Ruth Ware
Look in the Mirror by Catherine Steadman
This is How We End Things by R.J. Jacobs
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Red Rising by Pierce Brown
The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness
Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card
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Fireborne by Rosaria Munda
The Hurricane Wars by Thea Gunzon
What the River Knows by Isabel Ibañez
Emily Wilde’s Encyclopaedia of Faerie by Heather Fawcett
Warbreaker by Brandon Sanderson
These Gilded Bones May Bloom by Caitlan Honer
The Frugal Wizard’s Handbook to Medieval England by Brandon Sanderson
The Way of Shadows by Brent Weeks
Spells for Forgetting by Adrienne Young (magical reaiism)
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Horrorstör by Grady Hendrix
The September House by Carissa Orlando
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The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoevsky
The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas
The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien (obvs)
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
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A Door in the Dark by Scott Reintgen
Little Thieves by Margaret Owen
An Enchantment of Ravens by Margaret Rogerson
Vespertine by Margaret Rogerson
Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo
The Cruel Prince by Holly Black
The Prison Healer by Lynette Noni
Caraval by Stephanie Garber
The Thirteenth Child by Erin A. Craig
House of Salt and Sorrows by Erin A. Craig
The Poison Season by Mara Rutherford
A Multitude of Dreams by Mara Rutherford
Fable + Namesake by Adrienne Young
Girl, Goddess, Queen by Bea Fitzgerald
Clockwork Angel by Cassandra Clare
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The Rosewood Hunt by Mackenzie Reed
The Inheritance Games by Jennifer Lynn Barnes
Heiress Takes All by Emily Wibberly and Austin Siegmund-Broka
One of Us is Lying by Karen M. McManus
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Before the Devil Knows You’re Here by Autumn Krause
Small Favors by Erin A. Craig
The Whispering Dark by Kelly Andrew
Your Blood, My Bones by Kelly Andrew
Dark and Shallow Lies by Ginny Myers Sain
House of Hollow by Krystal Sutherland
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Letters to the Lost by Brigid Kemmerer
The Library of Lost Things by Laura Taylor Namey
Turtles All the Way Down by John Green
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The Illuminae Files by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff
This Splintered Silence by Kayla Olson
The Sandcastle Empire by Kayla Olson
Skyward by Brandon Sanderson